Michelle Coles, Esq. Biographical Sketch Michelle Coles is a Legislative and Policy Counsel in the Policy and Strategy Section of the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. For the past decade, Michelle has held various roles at the Department including trial attorney in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division and policy counsel in the Office of Legal Policy. Prior to coming to the Justice Department, Michelle served as a law clerk for the Honorable Emmet Sullivan on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and worked as a litigation associate at a major law firm. Michelle graduated from Howard University School of Law as valedictorian of her class in 2006, and is a 2002 graduate of the University of Virginia. Michelle is also the mother of four and a burgeoning novelist in the young adult genre.